Why Don’t Students Like School?
A Cognitive Scientist Answers Questions About How the Mind Works and What it Means for the Classroom
Daniel T. Willingham
In Why Don’t Students Like School?, cognitive scientist Daniel Willingham bridges the gap between educational practice and cognitive psychology, exploring why students struggle with school despite the best intentions of educators.
Willingham explains that our brains are not naturally wired for sustained, abstract thinking — school’s core demand on students. He addresses key cognitive principles, including the importance of factual knowledge as a foundation for complex skills, the limitations of working memory, and the concept that “memory is the residue of thought.” This means that for students to retain information, they must engage in meaningful thinking about the subject rather than simply perform tasks (e.g., PowerPoint slides), which may divert their focus away from the core content.
Willingham emphasises that effective teaching requires aligning instructional methods with how students process and retain information. He advocates for strategies like linking new material to prior knowledge, using structured practice, and fostering motivation through emotionally engaging content. Willingham’s critique of common classroom approaches, such as over-relying on discovery learning, highlights the need to balance exploration with direct guidance to avoid misconceptions.
Praised for making complex psychology accessible, Why Don’t Students Like School? offers educators research-backed insights to create learning experiences that resonate with students cognitively and emotionally. This book is an excellent resource for teachers seeking to deepen their understanding of how learning happens and to refine their teaching strategies accordingly.
